Review: Grammar Done Right
Feb 5th, 2009 | By John Roach | Category: Big PictureLong story short: Grammar Done Right!
Short story long: Size does matter.
Size matters
Compare the two books in the image to the right. One, a mighty tome. The very bible of the publishing world. A grimoire of grammatical rules and formations. The other, a mere wisp of a book, cowering in the shadow of its gargantuan twin.
(You’re waiting for the David and Goliath metaphor, aren’t you? Well, I won’t give you the satisfaction.)
It has been said that the only thing wrong with Chicago style is the Chicago Manual of Style. I agree. Imagine pulling that beast of a style guide down off your shelf, dragging it down to your desk, flipping through its abominable index, only to find the issue at hand has three different entries. Even then, the entries themselves are sometimes so permissive as to give no answer at all.
Not so with Grammar Done Right. Weighing in at just 80 pages, GDR is a condensed CMS, sparing no space for waffling. It is filled with phrases to warm the hearts of prescriptivists and the confused alike: Rules, DO NOT, etc. You’ve got questions, GDR has commands.
Grammar Done Right purports to be “a clear, commonsense approach to grammar and style.” While I’m not sure that any book that contains an entry on the en dash can be called commonsense, it is clear, accessible, and to the point. Compatible with Chicago style (not so with AP), it provides rules and examples for most situations writers might find themselves confused about, from numerals to hyphenation. Most entries start with a question (”Did you ever notice that … ?”) and all end with examples to illustrate the point.
All is not perfect, however: I noticed a mistake on the entry for subjective case (a “was” where a “were” belongs) and Ms. Reddick apparently does not believe in sentence adverbs.
Still, I heartily recommend Grammar Done Right. As a reference, it is more useful than the CMS, and for those who aren’t required to keep a style guide on their desk, it’s a great resource to have around.
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This article was written by John Roach http://prowritingtips.com John is a writer and copy editor. You can follow him on twitter at @johnwroachiii. To see more posts click here |
Very nice. Thank you for your review. You will be happy to note that the Revised and Expanded 2nd Edition of Grammar Done Right will be available March 1, 2009. And, that pesky gremlin mistake you noted above has been corrected.
Good thing you won’t give us the satisfaction of a David-Goliath metaphor. After all, the son of Jesse and the Gittite were opponents, not colleagues.
Rogers, I am recommending one over the other. That’s about as close to a fight to the death as books can handle.
Of course, if you had been there to hear the protests when I made the two take a picture together, you wouldn’t call them colleagues anyway. Oil and water, those two.
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